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2011 Spring

Course offerings for the Spring 2011 semester (TENTATIVE)

(Note: All courses meet in room 206W unless otherwise indicated.)

REL 110 Nature of Religion

This introductory course considers what is distinctively religious about
religions. Using a combination of in depth case study and cross-cultural
comparison, it introduces the student to recurrent themes, forms and structures
of religion, considering such topics as: the nature of myth and ritual; sacred
time and sacred space; gods, spirits and ancestors; as well as the roles of
shaman, prophet, and priest.

01 Tu, F 8:10-9:25 O’Neil

02 M, Th 13:10-14:45 Rhodes (Room 205W)

51 M, W 20:25-21:40 Raver

REL 111 Approaches to Religion

A modern critical study of religion using a variety of methods to
further understanding of the role of religion in personal and social
life. Approaches include those of philosophy, psychology, the arts,
history, sociology, and anthropology. Readings are from a variety of
differing religious traditions.

01 M, Th 8:10-9:25 Finn

02 Tu, F 11:10-12:25 Huffman (Room 205W)

51 Tu, Th 20:25-21:40 Adluri

REL 204 Religious Experience

Here the emphasis is not on doctrines of religion, but on central
experiences that underlie the institutions of religion. Readings are
drawn from a variety of cultures: from ancient writings to contemporary
ones; from religious traditions and from outside religious systems as
such. Most of the readings concern the experiences themselves, in
material such as the Australian initiation rites, Islamic and Native
American rituals, The Epic of Gilgamesh, biblical narratives, the
enlightenment of the Buddha, mystical experiences, the journals of Etty
Hillesum. Work by several theorists will also be read. Questions will
include: What is the experience like? What is "religious" experience?
How does the experience affect people and their lives?

01 M, Th 14:45-16:00 Haltenberger (Room 205W)

REL 205 Faith and Disbelief

An examination of questions raised in religious faith and in disbelief,
concentrating particularly on the challenge to religion made by
existentialism. Among the authors to be read are both critics and
defenders of religion: Camus, Buber, Kierkegaard, Teilhard de Chardin,
Sartre, Nietzsche, Tillich, and Bonhoffer.

01 Tu, F 14:10-15:25 Sproul

REL 251 Eastern Religions

In an age of increasing encounter between very different cultures, it is
critical that we attempt to understand religious traditions that are not
historically our own. In this course we will encounter primarily the
religious traditions of India (Hinduism and Buddhism) and China
(Confucianism and Taoism). Readings are in sacred texts and secondary
sources.

01 Tu, F 12:45-14:00 Sproul

REL 252 Ancient Near Eastern Religions

This course is a survey of the basic history and of the most significant
aspects of the religions of the major Near Eastern peoples in the Bronze
Age (8000BCE-3000 BCE), including the Egyptians, Sumerians,
Babylonians, Hittites, Canaanites, and Israelites. The magnificent
civilizations that they built had an enormous influence on subsequent
human culture. This course is based on primary
material, of both archeological and literary natures, and will discuss the
most important texts produced by religious and secular sources.

51 M, W 19:00-20:15 Raver

REL 253 Western Religions

Introduction to fundamental religious ideas in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, focusing on the essential
sacred texts in the Bible and the Qur'an. Attention is given to the
influence of dualistic thought from Zoroastrianism and Gnostic systems,
and to some mystical and contemporary interpretations.

01 M, Th 9:45-11:00 Breiner

REL 255 Religions of Two Gods

This course explores religious traditions which conceive of the world as
constituted by mutually exclusive, and indeed antagonistic, realities.
Gnosticism and Manichaeanism were once historically potent movements, but
are no longer practiced. Others, like Zoroastrianism and Jainism, are not
only of historical importance, but still claim adherents. Dualistic
currents of thought also manifest themselves in non-dualistic contexts.
This course examines the major historical dualistic religions--and some of
theological dualism's historical and contemporary step-children--to
understand what accounts for the appeal of dualistic understanding and to
appreciate the motivations behind the lifestyles to which they have
characteristically given rise.

01 M, Th 14:45-16:00 Long

REL 256 Afro-Caribbean Religions

This course is a survey of some of the most salient forms of African-based
religions in the Caribbean and South America, and in New York City. The
course will include some consideration of the transformations that have
occurred in the journey of the belief systems from Africa to the New
World, but the focus of the course will be on the integrity of the
Afro-Caribbean forms of religion. The course will include not only
attention to beliefs, but to art and ritual forms in which these religions
have expressed themselves. In addition, the course will raise the question
of the ongoing appeal of these religions.

The socio-cultural landscape of the western hemisphere prior to
European contact was one characterized by diversity as well as
overarching cosmological concepts that we can call religious
traditions. This class will be exploring those religious traditions
with regards to how these cultures shared similar concepts and how they
differed. While regions in this part of the world shared certain
attributes, many questions remain as to the degree to which distinct
areas interacted and how the level of interaction and exchange of ideas
affected their particular worldviews. We will
look at the two great traditions known as the Mesoamerican and Andean
traditions through a variety of interpretive lenses: archaeology,
anthropology, political economy, ecology and art history. We will be
utilizing these disciplines to construct a framework with which we can
thereby place our own questions. We will also address the modern manifestations of these traditions in the
various forms that they have taken on today.

51 M, W 17:35-18:50 Raver

REL 270 Psychology and Religion

"Every statement about God is a statement about the human person, and
every statement about the human is a statement about God." This course
will examine the complementarity between religion and psychology in many
aspects of the human person through the media of selected text, film, and
story.

01 M, Th 16:10-17:25 Haltenberger (Room 205W)

REL 307 Religious Ideas in Literature

Storytelling has been a nurturing and necessary activity of the human
species, and a primary medium for conveying religious inquiry and
insight. Through careful reading, discussion, and student essays, this
class will consider the inquiry into key religious issues--e.g., the human
condition and possibilities of transformation, divine justice, the sacred
and society, alienation and meaning--in novels, short stories, and plays by
authors such as Dostoyevsky, Unamuno, Camus, Lagerkvist, Malamud, Baldwin,
O'Connor, Endo, and Atwood. (Auditors require permission of the instructor
to register.)

01 Tu, W, F 10:10-11:00 Tirana

REL 308 Religion and the Arts

The arts have always been a medium for transforming spiritual beliefs,
from prehistoric figurines to William Blake’s mystical paintings. Even in
today’s society, the arts serve as a vehicle for religious expression,
reflecting not only the individual’s experience with the sacred but
society’s view of what art constitutes and how religion should be
depicted. But how did we get to this point? We shall examine the
relationship between religion and sculpture, painting, dance, theater,
decorative arts, music and, finally, photography and film from a
chronological and cross-cultural perspective.

01 Tu, Th 17:25-19:00 Raver

REL 309 Religious Meaning of Love and Sex

Sex remains one of the great powers in human life to which religion has
not been indifferent. This cross-cultural and interdisciplinary course
asks about the relation between the religious and the erotic, inquiring
into such issues as: what lies behind speaking of the gods as sexual
and/or loving; what lies behind speaking of faith as a matter of 'loving'
God; what rationales underlie the various religious codes of sexual
ethics? In short, what are the connections among the love of God, the love
for God, and sexual love between human beings--in both historical and
contemporary religion?

01 M, Th 16:10-17:25 Long

REL 311 Women and Religion

The focus is on contemporary feminist theologies. Feminist students of
religion contend that male-defined traditions have set the patterns of
religious and societal life, without adequate attention to women's
experiences, insights or participation. The course focuses mainly on the
traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam (some other traditions are
included and welcome from the class), and explores the what and why of
patriarchy, the power of symbols, feminist sources and methods for doing
theology, as women reclaim their traditions or envision new ones,
with new models for the sacred, the self and society.

01 Tu, W, F 9:10-10:00 Tirana

REL 320 Hinduism

A study of the nature of Hinduism and its development, literature,
philosophy, and religious practices. Readings in such traditional texts as
the Vedas, Upanishads, and Bhagavad Gita, as well as in modern texts,will
explore Hinduism's understanding of God, human beings, the feminine
principle, society and community, time and history, and we shall study how
these understandings develop from 2000 BCE to the 21st century.

51 Tu, Th 19:00-20:15 Adluri

REL 322 Islam

An introduction to the major concepts, practices, and texts of Islam, as
well as an examination of the life and faith of the prophet Mohammed. A
study of Islam's origin in its own sociocultural framework, its
ideologies, ethos, and ethics, as well as its adaptive changes and
reinterpretations in the course of history, including its status in the
modern world as one of the most populous and wide-spread religions.

01 M, W, Th 12:10-1:00 Weinfield

REL 330 New Testament Religion

A scholarly consideration of the religion of the New Testament and
earliest Christianity. Examination of the theological interest of the
authors of the books of the New Testament in order to consider the major
facets of New Testament religion: the mystery of Jesus Christ, Paul's
mission and message, ethics, the relation to the Law of Judaism, salvation
theology, and apocalyptic thinking. Reading in the New Testament and
secondary sources.

01 Tu, F 11:10-12:25 Sproul

REL 333 Christian Theology

Every religious tradition pauses to reflect upon its central religious
experience; "theology" is the articulate expression of this reflection.
In this course, we will examine the Christian form of theology with
regard to key doctrines in key works: the doctrines of Trinity,
Incarnation, existence of God, and Grace – by way of a range of
Christian theologians from the 5th century Agustine to the 20th century
Barth.

01 M, Th 11:10-12:25 Cole

REL 335 Myth and Ritual

What does a ritual do for its practitioners? How does it do it? What does
the recitation of a myth do for people? Does a ritual or myth bring or
express the infinite to its participants? What is the relationship of
ritual or mythical events to people’s ordinary lives? The course, which
assumes a working knowledge of more than one religious tradition, will
look at rituals and myths from a variety of traditions including our own
“secular” life. Focusing on the motifs of “heroes” and “goddesses,” we
will identify and explore patterns of ritual/mythical life, and ask of
their philosophical, social, psychological and theological significance.

01 01 M, Th 11:10-12:25 Rhodes (Room 205W)

REL 336 Zen

An inquiry into the complex nature of Zen--thought by some as the essence
of Buddhism, by others as a Buddhist-Daoist hybrid-- this course focuses on
the intellectual difficulties in understanding a teaching which represents
itself as "beyond words and phrases."

51 Tu, Th 17:35-18:50 Nordstrom

REL 337 Sufism

Within the Muslim community, Sufism has been alternatively regaled as
being profoundly un-Islamic and hailed as the completion of the Straight
Path which is Islam, by supplementing right action and belief with matters
of the heart. While considering the origins of Sufism within Islam, this
course concentrates on Sufism in its integrity, focusing on the nature of
Sufi path, its historical transformations, and its theological-doctrinal and
metaphysic underpinnings. Thus, the course offers the student an
opportunity to explore the continuities of Sufism with more conventional
forms of Islam as well as its innovativeness, but importantly concentrates
on an 'appreciation' of the Sufi path in its own right.

01 T, F 12:45-2:00 Hunsberger (Room 205W)

REL 361.51 Religion and Film

Film is one of the most popular forms of literature in contemporary society.
This course will explore the relationship between Religion and Film. As a class
we will examine how film makers use religion to convey their points of view, as
well as examining how western religions (Judaism/Christianity/Islam) use film
technology for propagating faith.